Welcome to the STAMPlorations™ blog! We host monthly challenges (theme and sketch; mixed media; CAS; TAGplorations). We have a never-ending challenge exclusive to those who own STAMPlorations products, and CUTplorations for those who love to use dies. We spotlight projects by the design team, regularly publish tutorials, host fun blog hops, and announce new products. Our goal: encourage you to "stamp with all your ART!" through our challenges, inspiration projects, events, and products.

Hop along in our special stamp release mini hop! AND COFFEE is the latest 4x8 coffee-themed set from The Bee's Knees and you could win it for yourself by simply leaving a comment! Click here(ends 12/11)

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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Hello, fellow stampers! I wanted to tell you about our new release. JOYFUL is the 5" by 7" stamp set we are offering for October/November and it's now available on the shop! This set has 4 sketchy, hand-drawn holiday images (wreath, stocking, gift, and sleigh) and 28 words/sentiments to mix and match.

Check out the set here. If you like it, consider signing up for the STAMPlorations bi-monthly stamp club here to get the special club price + free shipping anywhere in the world :o)The girls in the Spotlight Project team will soon be sharing projects using this set so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, here's a quick-and-easy card featuring the Christmas wreath:

Tomorrow, I have another piece of exciting news to share and we'll also announce the winner of a stamp set drawn from all the comments left on all the the Spotlight Projects so see you then!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Hello, friends!Deeptihere and I welcome you to my third spotlight project. I am feeling excited :) I hope I can inspire you yet again. This time I am showcasing how to make the best out of your stamps. I have used STAMPlorations' awesome new release, Vignette: Christmas Blockset, and Vignette: Retro Mod Shapes.

So, here's a look at the finished project. Actually, I made two cards. One showcases the result with heat embossing and another with simple stamping. I created Christmas wreaths! I have made a tutorial for the first card.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

With Christmas only 3 months away, how is your stash of Christmas cards? In the past, I've always scrambled and made cards at the last minute. As a result, the recipients got their Christmas cards after Christmas...because most of them were overseas. I'm not doing a repeat of last year and the previous years this year, as I've resolved to get my Christmas mailing done by mid-November!

Monday, September 22, 2014

We've got lots of stuff brewing over here at STAMPlorations HQ and we're sharing three of those in this update:

Spotlight Projects

We started sharing spotlight projects in July and publishing them regularly here on the blog. We added this feature so we can share not just photos of the projects we make with STAMPlorations stamps, but our processes and techniques as well through step-by-step photo tutorials and videos. This way, you can replicate our projects or even apply the techniques we use on your own projects.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Hi, everybody. It's Monika back again with some more inspiration for you. This week's spotlight post of mine is inspired by my friend Sandie, who loves her VIGNETTE: Grunge Floral Strips. It is such a versatile set and you may remember that I used it for my DT project for our Sketch #20 challenge, which is still in full swing.

I had made another card at the time which didn't follow the sketch. However, it tied in with my personal yearly challenge of making at least one Christmas card using non-Christmas stamps.

Hello, STAMPlorations friends! It's time to announce the winners of the September stamp release blog hop! Thank you so much to everyone who participated and took the time to visit and leave comments here and on our designers' blogs!

Monday, September 15, 2014

It's the last day of the September stamp release blog hop! If you've been meaning to participate in the hop, you've got until 11:55 p.m. PDT (GMT -700) to comment to win stamps or a $25 gift certificate to the shop :o)

The STAMPlorations girls have a few more inspiration projects using the new stamp sets.

Welcome to our 20th bi-weekly sketch challenge! Here’s the sketch for the next couple of weeks. It’s open to interpretation. Feel free to change the orientation of the sketch, use different shapes, add other elements to suit the type of paper craft you’re making, and so on — just make sure the sketch is recognizable in your submission(s). You can use stamps by other companies to create projects that you enter to our challenges, although if you have STAMPlorations stamps in your stash, we'd be tickled if you use them!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Guess what? It's Day 5 of the September stamp release blog hop! Our little party's coming to an end...have you hopped yet? Visit all the stops and comment for a chance to win your choice of stamp set from the new release or a $25 gift certificate to spend on the shop!

Friday, September 12, 2014

Welcome to Day 3 of our stamp release blog hop! We're partying until Monday, September 15, so we're halfway through the hop! Visit all the stops (if you haven't yet) and comment for a chance to win stamps or a $25 gift certificate :o)We've got more inspiration projects using the new stamp sets!

Hello, friends! Welcome to my second spotlight feature and I am feeling so excited :) I hope I can inspire you yet again. This time, I am showcasing another technique often done in photography. I have used STAMPlorations' beautiful new release, Bloom Sketches, and VIGNETTE: Retro Mod Shapes.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Our stamp release blog hop kicked off yesterday and is off to a great start! If you're just now checking in, you're right on time for the party! The hop is until Monday, September 15, so you've got plenty of time to visit all the stops on the hop and comment for a chance to win :o)The STAMPlorations girls didn't make just one project for the hop, they made more! So we're sharing more inspiration projects every day until September 15.

I adore my niece, Alexa. I've got thousands of photos of her in a portable hard drive...and her photos are all that's in that hard drive ;o) And so here I am sharing a 12" by 12" mixed media layout where she's the star. (I made one a couple of weeks ago and you'll find it here.) The Adorable One will be turning 3 next month, but for this project, I printed out a photo of her that was taken when she was 5 1/2 months old.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Hi, STAMPlorations friends! I'm showing you a quick, fun, messy card I made using the fabulous Bloom Sketches. The idea came to me by accident: I wanted to try watercolor style stamping by spraying my stamp with water and realized I don't own a misting bottle... So off I went trying if stamping with colored mists would work. It did!

One of the things of I am so proud of is my design team. Each and every one of the STAMPlorations girls is incredible and just out-of-this-world creative. I'm always blown away by the projects they create using the stamps I design and illustrate. Each time we release new stamps, I get excited because I just know the STAMPlorations girls are going to do amazing things with the stamps.

A year ago, I never imagined I'd have a design team that's as talented as the one I've got now. And so I hope you enjoy our creations showcasing the new stamps. Visit all the stops on the hop and leave a comment for a chance to win prizes! By the way, our 5 Christmas-themed stamp sets are available in the shop as a special release bundlefor a limited time.

Friday, September 05, 2014

Welcome to the September challenge! We’d love it if you’ll join us for the entire month! Each month we have a theme, and for September, our theme is STAMPS & MARKERS. You can use stamps by other companies to create projects that you enter to our challenges, although if you have our stamps in your stash, we'd be tickled if you use them -- and we've tweaked the prize a bit to encourage you to use our stamps if you have them!

Put your own spin on this month's theme -- as long as you use stamps in your projects (as opposed to projects without stamping whatsoever) and you use markers (alcohol markers like Spectrum Noir and Copic, Distress markers, Memento markers, Sharpies, and basically any kind of marker), we'd love to see them!

Thursday, September 04, 2014

Hello, everybody. I'm back again with some more inspiration for you. This week, I hope to inspire you to stretch your crafting skills and join me in creating this little handbag sized folder. It is a sort of Stationery First Aid Kit.

I don't know about you, but I quite often get caught out in situations needing pen and paper, an envelope or just simply something nice to write some details on. Thinking that something has to be done about this whilst thinking about my upcoming Spotlight Project, it was a question of now or never!
So here it is, this Thursday's Spotlight Project using our current Stamp Club set, Bloom Sketches combined with Boxed Blooms & Bold Sentiments and Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds.

We had a whopping 135 awesome entries in last month's challenge! We can tell you guys aren't really into stamps and die cuts ;o) A huge, huge thank you to each and every one of you who played along! We each voted for our favorites and after tallying up the votes, 6 entries emerged on top: a winner and 5 top picks. Here they are!

Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Hi guys! Remember in the bad old days when we had to use real bleach if we wanted a bleached-out look to our backgrounds? We can now do a no-risk, no-smell, no-spoiled-clothes version just using water and Distress Inks.

Monday, September 01, 2014

Welcome to our 19th bi-weekly sketch challenge! Here’s the sketch for the next couple of weeks. It’s open to interpretation. Feel free to change the orientation of the sketch, use different shapes, add other elements to suit the type of paper craft you’re making, and so on — just make sure the sketch is recognizable in your submission(s). You can use stamps by other companies to create projects that you enter to our challenges, although if you have STAMPlorations stamps in your stash, we'd be tickled if you use them!

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California-based STAMPlorations™ is owned and managed by husband-and-wife team, David & Shery Russ. All of our stamps are proudly made in the USA. Our clear stamps are made from the finest photopolymer resin. Through our stamp line, we hope to encourage crafters of all ages and experience levels to "Stamp with all your ART!"

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